I’ve decided to start a new tradition here on the Dividend Ninja, and do an annual year in review. Here are some of the notable business stories from 2012, and my takeaways. Happy New Year everyone! I wish you all the best in 2013. The End of the World courtesy of weeklyworldnews.com The end of the world wasn’t business news. However, it should be obvious to any investor the end of the world would have a big impact on their portfolio (since it wouldn’t exist). According to the Mayan Long-Count Calendar, which ends on a 5,125 year cycle, the world was set to end on December 21st, 2012. Of course the world didn’t end, people went Christmas shopping, and companies continued to issue dividends. Although the Mayans predicted this date with incredible accuracy, they didn’t really claim there would be big cataclysmic events during the End Time. Much of that hype has been modern spin. Fortunately, the world did not end, and my portfolio remained intact. How did ...

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Santa-Claus has given investors a nice Christmas rally this year, in an annual investing rite of passage. Like many astute investors, I don’t try to time the market. Since I haven’t had the extra cash to invest or wanted to sell any of my positions, I’ve been quite content to let the dividends roll in. However if we all fall off the Fiscal Cliff in January, I am ready to deploy capital via cash and selling off another chunk of bond ETFs. One thing is for certain, I won’t be buying RIM. Did You Get Caught Up in RIM? One year chart for Research in Motion (RIM) When Research in Motion (RIM) shares sunk to a nine-year low of $6.18 on September 23rd, I had thought about buying a few hundred shares for a swing trade at the $7 mark. That’s certainly not part of my dividend investing strategy. However, there was certainly an investment opportunity with gains to be made. The goal would have been to ride the potential hype on the new BlackBerry 10, then dump RIM shares in January before ...

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Over the last year I saw a few articles and posts around the web with the big question, “Will Apple Pay a Dividend?”  Back then Apple was around $325 USD per share. Coincidentally on March 19th, the very day Apple (AAPL) announced their dividend, staff writer Hank Coleman asked the question why  Dividend Fund Managers Are Buying Apple? Apple’s new dividend has been a blessing in disguise, since the dividend now comes along with a hefty share price. Regardless of whether you love Apple products or not, or view Apple as a leading and profitable company for years to come, the real question is whether the momentum and current share price is sustainable. It’s an important question. As the Canadian Couch Potato recently pointed out in is article, Apple and the Dividend Puzzle, Apple shares now make up 4.5% of the S&P 500 Index.  So if you are investing in U.S. index funds or mutual funds, then the long term outlook for Apple directly impacts your portfolio. Even if you don’t ...

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By Bye Penny Yesterday on March 29, 2012, the federal government announced in its budget that it would withdraw the penny from circulation in the fall of 2012. As a Canadian I feel a sense of sadness of course for the loss of the penny, as if some historical icon has been pulled from under me. Through the years I’ve learned to love and hate the penny, but it demise isn’t so bad after all. Pennies aren’t worth much in the current economy, we forever have to carry them in our pockets, and it’s too time consuming to roll them up for the bank. All they are good for is handing to some poor cashier, who has to count them out to make sure they won’t be short-changed on their shift. The first Canadian cents were struck in 1858 and had a diameter of 25.4 mm (1 inch) with a weight of 4.54 grams. I’m the first to complain about having to put a few pennies in my pocket after buying a coffee at work. Now just imagine putting a few of those 1858 pennies in your pocket. Back then ...

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Last week on the day when Apple launched the iPad 2 , Research In Motion (RIM) shares dropped over 10%. That’s not to say that RIM was unprofitable, far from it. RIM reported a higher-than-forecast fourth-quarter profit on Thursday March 24th, with an increase in BlackBerry phone shipments of 52.3 million, a revenue growth of over $19.9 billion, and a 47% increase in earnings per share. And that is amidst a backdrop of iphone and Android sales, as pointed out in a recent Globe and Mail article. However, investors have lost confidence in RIM’s ability to innovate regardless of BlackBerry sales, and that has left them running for the door even with huge profits: “RIM’s share of the global smart-phone market has indeed taken a hit from rising competition from Apple’s iphone and Android-based phones. According to International Data Corp., RIM controlled less than 15 per cent of the market in the fourth quarter, down from nearly 20 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2009 – a substantial ...

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